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T h e F a t h e r s K n o w B e s t
MERIT & REWARD
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This Rock
Volume 5, Number 3
 March 1994 
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WHILE the rewards God gives always outweigh
the value of the good works we perform (which have value only because
of him), the Bible indicates our good works are rewarded and
that we merit what God has promised to give us (Rom. 2:6-11,
Gal. 6:6-10).
In the second century, the technical term "merit" was introduced
as a synonym for the Greek word for "reward." The Church
Fathers point out the role of merit/reward in obtaining final salvation.
They say that merit is possible only by God's grace and only for the
person who already has been justified by grace.
This teaching was summarized at the Council of Trent (1546) in response
to the Reformers' rejection of merit. The Council taught that "none
of those things which precede justification, whether faith or works,
merit the grace of justification; for if it is by grace, it is not
now by works; otherwise, as the Apostle [Paul] says, grace is no more
grace" (Decree on Justification 8, citing Rom. 11:6).
Justin Martyr
"We have learned from the prophets and we hold
it as true that punishments and chastisements and good rewards are
distributed according to the merit of each man's actions. Were this
not the case, and were all things to happen according to the decree
of fate, there would be nothing at all in our power. If fate decrees
that this man is to be good and that one wicked, then neither is the
former to be praised nor the latter to be blamed" (First
Apology 43 [A.D. 154]).
Tatian
"[T]he wicked man is justly punished, having
become depraved of himself; and the just man is worthy of praise for
his honest deeds, since it was in his free choice that he did not
transgress the will of God" (Address to the Greeks 7
[170]).
Theophilus of Antioch
"He who gave the mouth for speech and formed
the ears for hearing and made eyes for seeing will examine everything
and will judge justly, granting recompense to each according to merit.
To those who seek immortality by the patient exercise of good works
[Rom. 2:7], he will give everlasting life, joy, peace, rest, and all
good things, which neither eye has seen nor ear has heard, nor has
it entered into the heart of man [1 Cor. 2:9]. For the unbelievers
and the contemptuous and for those who do not submit to the truth
but assent to iniquity . . . there will be wrath and indignation [Rom.
2:8]" (To Autolycus 1:14 [181]).
Irenaeus
"[Paul], an able wrestler, urges us on in the
struggle for immortality, so that we may receive a crown and so that
we may regard as a precious crown that which we acquire by our own
struggle and which does not grow upon us spontaneously. . . . Those
things which come to us spontaneously are not loved as much as those
which are obtained by anxious care" (Against Heresies
4:37:7 [196]).
Hippolytus
"Standing before [Christ's] judgment, all of
them, men, angels, and demons, crying out in one voice, shall say:
`Just is your judgment,' and the justice of that cry will be apparent
in the recompense made to each. To those who have done well, everlasting
enjoyment shall be given; while to lovers of evil shall be given eternal
punishment" (Against the Greeks [215]).
Cyprian
"[Y]ou who are a matron rich and wealthy, anoint
not your eyes with the antimony of the devil, but with the collyrium
of Christ, so that you may at last come to see God, when you have
merited before God both by your works and by your manner of living"
(Works and Almsgivings 14 [253]).
Cyril of Jerusalem
"The root of every good work is the hope of the
resurrection, for the expectation of a reward nerves the soul to good
work. Every laborer is prepared to endure the toils if he looks forward
to the reward of these toils" (Catechetical Lectures 18:1
[350]).
Jerome
"It is our task, according to our different virtues,
to prepare for ourselves different rewards. . . . If we were all going
to be equal in heaven it would be useless for us to humble ourselves
here in order to have a greater place there. . . . Why should virgins
persevere? Why should widows toil? Why should married women be content?
Let us all sin, and after we repent we shall be the same as the apostles
are!" (Against Jovinian 2:32 [393]).
Augustine
"He bestowed forgiveness; the crown he will pay
out. Of forgiveness he is the donor; of the crown, he is the debtor.
Why debtor? Did he receive something? . . . The Lord made himself
a debtor not by receiving something but by promising something. One
does not say to him, `Pay for what you received,' but `Pay what you
promised'<<|<;>" (Explanations of the Psalms 83:16 [405]).
Augustine
"We are commanded to live righteously, and the
reward is set before us of our meriting to live happily in eternity.
But who is able to live righteously and do good works unless he has
been justified by faith?" (Various Questions to Simplician
1:2:21 [396]).
Augustine
"What merits of his own has the saved to boast
of when, if he were dealt with according to his merits, he would be
nothing if not damned? Have the just then no merits at all? Of course
they do, for they are the just. But they had no merits by which they
were made just" (Letters 194:3:6 [418]).
Augustine
"What merit, then, does a man have before grace,
by which he might receive grace, when our every good merit is produced
in us only by grace and when God, crowning our merits, crowns nothing
else but his own gifts to us?" (ibid., 194:5:19).
Prosper of Aquitaine
"Indeed, a man who has been justified, that is,
who from impious has been made pious, since he had no antecedent good
merit, receives a gift, by which gift he may also acquire merit. Thus,
what was begun in him by Christ's grace can also be augmented by the
industry of his free choice, but never in the absence of God's help,
without which no one is able either to progress or to continue in
doing good" (Responses on Behalf of Augustine to the Articles
of Objections Raised by his Calumniators in Gaul 6 [431-432]).
Second Council of Orange
"[G]race is preceded by no merits. A reward is
due to good works, if they are performed, but grace, which is not
due, precedes, that they may be done" (Canons on Grace 19
[529]).
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